Overcoming a Colonial Legacy: The New National Museum in Mali: 1976 to the Present

Arnoldi, Mary Jo

doi:10.1525/mua.1999.22.3.28

Cited by 24 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…In neighbouring Zimbabwe, independence was followed by the removal of the statues of colonial authorities such as Cecil John Rhodes, Alfred Beit and many others, since they were seen as offensive to Africans (Samwanda, 2013). Similar observations have been made about colonial statues and monuments in West Africa, most notably, in Mali (Arnoldi, 1999, 2003, 2007). Given this trend, South Africa with a similar colonial history cannot be an exception.…”

Section: The Changing Nature Of Statues and Monuments In Tshwanesupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Preservation of the memories of heroes and heroines through statues and monuments was and still is not unique to South Africa and Pretoria. Statues and monuments of this nature were common across Africa during the colonial and apartheid era (Arnoldi, 1999(Arnoldi, , 2003(Arnoldi, , 2007Coombes, 2003;Larsen, 2013). As Larsen has noted in the case of Kenya, they were used as cultural tools in the project of colonialism until the achievement of independence in the 1960s (Larsen, 2013).…”

Section: Colonial and Apartheid Statues And Monuments In Pretoria (Tsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The changing nature of statues and monuments in Tshwane (Pretoria) South Africa

Fubah

2018

Ethnography

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This paper examines the changing nature of statues and monuments in post-apartheid South Africa with special focus on newly constructed statues and monuments at the Groenkloof Nature Reserve (GNR) in Tshwane. The paper highlights the extraordinary fascination of the African National Congress (ANC) government with statues and monuments in honour of anti-colonial and anti-apartheid icons. It demonstrates that by embarking on the construction of statues and monuments in honour of struggle icons, these icons have become the embodiment of a new iconography for South Africa. More importantly, the paper will demonstrate how the newly constructed statues, though still in line with the pre-1994 iconography, are also disruptive of the country’s cultural landscape, much to the advantage of the government.

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Section: The Changing Nature Of Statues and Monuments In Tshwanesupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Colonial and Apartheid Statues And Monuments In Pretoria (Tsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The changing nature of statues and monuments in Tshwane (Pretoria) South Africa

Fubah

2018

Ethnography

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“…In Mali, a number of studies on Mali's National Museum have highlighted the issue of representation in light of the colonial legacy. Malian curators faced the challenge of representing indigenous voices without silencing the colonial past (Ardouin 1996;Arnoldi 1999).…”

Section: 'State Cannibals' and The Reinvention Of Identitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Plastic Eye: The Politics of Jewish Representation in Moroccan Museums

Boum¹

2010

Ethnos

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“…This project would not have been possible without the help of many people and the support of a number of institutions. (Arnoldi 1999;Konare 1981Konare , 1983Male 1999).…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gendered Museum, Guided He(tour)topias: Women and Social Memory in Mali

Jorio

2002

PoLAR

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The Women's Museum (Muso Kunda) of Bamako, Mali, is an ambitious enterprise. It stands at the intersection of many simultaneous projects, including the preservation of local cultures, compliance with religious sensibilities (particularly in regard to women's modesty and propriety), the democratization of state institutions, and support for women's development. The museum constitutes a forum for often contradictory initiatives that mirror different understandings of gender in today's Mali (Karp and Lavine 1991). As such, the Women's Museum of Mali represents a heterogeneous microcosm in which different agents are struggling over the power to define a meaningful cultural agenda for the newly established Malian democracy.Selection of the exhibit material at the Women's Museum manifests an attempt to encompass, albeit with different emphases, many dimensions of women's lives. It includes samples of dress from various ethnic groups, a selection of implements used by women, and a few pictures of Malian women taken during the colonial era and the first years of Mali's independence. The museum reflects an effort to preserve and simultaneously to craft an image of Malian women with which most women citizens may identify. The preservation of what are perceived as disappearing traditions (though creatively reinterpreted via the adoption of the language of fashion) is enfolded into the museum's classic educational mission. This institution indeed aims to forge a new political and social consciousness for Malian women who are now called to participate more widely and effectively in the democratization process (Bennett 1990(Bennett ,1998. In part this essay will focus on the diverse modes of organizing artifacts, their capacity for disclosure of complex world orders (see, for instance, Errington 1998), and the intended objectives of the museum's organizers, but it will also encompass the encounters with and negotiations of cultural meanings taking place within the museum. Consequently, it includes snapshots from a number of guided tours and a public debate that foreground the differences among the visitors as well as the museum's personnel in their interpretations of the mission and significance of the museum.In order to account for the struggles over meanings, as well as the mediations between global and local cultures taking place in the museum, I build on James Clifford's contact approach (1997), with its focus on temporary encounters taking place within the museum, as well as Foucault's study of heterotopic spaces of which the museum is one example (1997a, 1997b). Foucault's perspective includes a consideration of the interplay of architectural spaces, power practices, and subjectivities. His approach complements Clifford's attention on the transitory character of encounters between different groups of people by accounting for the interplay between power practices and their interaalization by individual agents, thus further elaborating on the mechanisms of fragmentation of power in the postcolony.In his essay on museums as...

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Overcoming a Colonial Legacy: The New National Museum in Mali: 1976 to the Present

Cited by 24 publications

References 7 publications

The changing nature of statues and monuments in Tshwane (Pretoria) South Africa

The changing nature of statues and monuments in Tshwane (Pretoria) South Africa

The Plastic Eye: The Politics of Jewish Representation in Moroccan Museums

Gendered Museum, Guided He(tour)topias: Women and Social Memory in Mali

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